A history of the McGuffey readers

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A HISTORY

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McGUFFEY READERS

A HISTORY

OF THE

McGUFFEY READERS.

WILLIAM H. McGUFFEY

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A HISTORY

OF TH«

McGUFFEY READERS

By
HENRY H. VAIL.

WITH THREE PORTRAITS.

THE BOOKISH BOOKS— IV.

New Edition.

CLEVELAND
THE BURROWS BROTHERS CO.

1911

Copyright, 1911, by Henry H. Vail.

I / / 1

of tfje Mt&ulttp &eaberg

THE BOOKS.

Before me are four small books roughly bound in
boards, the sides covered with paper. On the ic-
verse of the title pages, two bear a copyright entry
in the year 1836; the others were entered in 1837.
They are the earliest editions of McGuffey's Eclectic
Readers that have been found in a search lasting
forty years.

They represent the first efforts in an educational
and business enterprise that has for three-quarters
of a century called for the best exertions of many
skilled men, and in their several forms these books
have taken a conspicuous part in the education of
millions of the citizens of this country.

But what interest can the history of the McGuffey
Eclectic Readers have to those who did not use
these books in their school career? Their story
differs from that of other readers since in successive
forms, adjusted more or less perfectly to the chang-
ing demands of the schools, they attained a wider
and more prolonged use than has been accorded to
any other series.

inunction of

By custom and under sanction of law certain
studies are pursued in the common schools of every
state. Spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic, geogra-
phy, history, grammar, civics and physiology are
the subjects usually taught. The school authorities
select the textbooks which shall be used in each
subject. The readers are the only texts used in all
schools affording opportunity for distinct ethical
teaching. The history of our country should give ideas
of patriotism; the civics should contain the primary
notions of government; the physiologies should in-
struct the pupils in the laws of health ; but the reader
should cover the whole field of morals and manners
and in language that will impress their teaching
indelibly upon the mind of every pupil. Whixj the
chief aim of the school readers must be to teach
the child to apprehend thought from the printed
page and convey this thought to the attentive listener
with precision, these efforts should be exerted upon
thoughts that have permanent value. No other texts
used in the school room bear directly and positively
upon the formation of character in the pupils. The
school readers are the proper and indispensable
texts for teaching true patriotism, integrity, honesty,
industry, temperance, courage, politeness, and all
other moral and intellectual virtues. In these books
every lesson should have a distinct purpose in view.
and the final aim should be to establish in the pupils
high moral principles which are at the foundation

of character.

[2]

iFormrr* of eijar.irtrr

The literature of the English language is rich in
material suited to this intent; no other language is
better endowed. This material is fresh to every
pupil, no matter how familiar it may be to teacher
or parent. Although some of it has been in print
for three centuries, it is true and beautiful today.

President Eliot has said, "When we teach a child
to read, our primary aim is not to enable it to de-
cipher a way-bill or a receipt, but to kindle its im-
agination, enlarge its vision and open for it the
avenues of knowledge." Knowledge gives power,
which may be exerted for good or for evil. Char-
acter gives direction to power. Power is the engine
which may force the steamer through the water,
chai Jitter is the helm which renders the power ser-
viceable for good.

Readers which have been recognized as former!
of good habits of action, thought, and speech for
three-quarters of a century, which have taught a
sound morality to millions of children without giv-
ing offense to the most violent sectarian, which have
opened the doors of pure literature to all their users,
are surely worthy of study as to their origin, their
successive changes, and their subsequent career.

The story of these readers is told in the specimens
of the several editions, in the long treasured and
time-worn contracts, in the books of accounts kept
by the successive publishers, and in the traditions
which have been passed down from white haired men
who gossiped of the early days in the school-
[3]

ZMffrtrnt

book business. Valuable information has also been
furnished by descendants of the McGuffey family,
and by the educational institutions with which each
of the authors of the readers was connected.

For half a century the present writer has had per-
sonal knowledge of the readers. At first, as a
teacher, using them daily in the class room; but
soon, as an editor, directing the literary work of the
publishers and owners. It therefore falls to him
to narrate a story "quorum pars minima fui."

For more than seventy years the McGuffey Readers
have held high rank as text-books for use in the
elementary schools, especially throughout the West
and South. But during this time these books have
been revised five times and adjusted to the ct
conditions in the schools. In each one of these re-
visions the marked characteristics of the original
series have been most scrupulously retained, and the
continued success of the series is doubtless owing to
this fact. There has been a continuity of spirit.

The First and Second Readers were first published
in 1836. In 1837 the Third and Fourth Readers
were printed. For reasons elsewhere explained these
books were "improved and enlarged" in 1838. In
1841 a higher reader was added to the series which
was then named McGuffey's Rhetorical Guide. In
the years 1843 and 1844 the four books then con-
stituting the series were thoroughly remodeled and
on the title pages were placed the words "Newly
Revised" and the Rhetorical Guide was annexed as
[4]

Content** of tf)r

the Fifth Reader. Ten years later the entire series
was made over and issued in six books. These were
then called the New Readers. From 1853 until 1878
the books remained substantially unchanged; but in
the latter year they were renewed largely in sub-
stance and improved in form. These readers as
copyrighted in 1879 were extensively used for more
than a quarter of a century. Changing conditions
in the school room called for another revision in
1901. This latest form now in extensive use is called
The New McGuffey Readers.

Each of these revisions has constituted practically
a new series although the changes have never in-
cluded the entire contents. In the higher readers
will be found today many selections which appeared
in the original books. The reason for retaining such
selections is clear. No one has been able to write
in the English language selections that are better
for school use than some written by Shakespeare,
Milton, Bacon, and other early writers. The liter-
ature of the English language has not all been writ-
ten in the present decade nor in the last century.

As at first published, the lower books of the
McGuffey Readers had no trace of the modern
methods now used in teaching the mastery of words
— even the alphabet was not given in orderly form;
but the alphabetic method of teaching the art of
reading was then the only one used. The pupil at
first spelled each word by naming the letters and
then pronounced each syllable and then the word.
[I]

JFf rat £*ftf*na

The following stanza is copied from page 61 of the
edition of 1844 to illustrate the method of presenting
words :

I like to see a lit-tle dog,

And pat him on the head;
So pret-ti-ly he wags his tail

When-ev-er he is fed.

The First Reader was mostly in words of one
syllable. In this book we find the story of the lame
dog that, when cured, brought another lame dog to
be doctored; of the kind boy who freed his caged
bird; of the cruel boy who drowned the cat and
pulled wings and legs from flies; of Peter Pindar
the story teller, and the" "snow dog" of Mount St.
Bernard; of Mr. Post who adopted and reared Mary;
of the boy who told a lie and repented after he v/as
found out; of the chimney sweep who was tempted
to steal a gold watch but put it back and was there-
after educated by its owner; of the whisky boy;
and of the mischievous boy who played ghost and
made another boy insane. Nearly every lesson has
a moral clearly stated in formal didactic words at
its close.

In the Second Reader we find the story of the
idle boy who talked with the bees, dogs, and horses,
and having found them all busy, reformed himself;
of the kind girl who shared her cake with a dog
and an old man; of the mischievous boys who tied
the grass across the path and thus upset not only the
milk-maid but the messenger running for a doctor

[6]

tuition*

to come to their father; of the wise lark who knew
that the farmer's grain would not be cut until he
resolved to cut it himself; of the wild and ravenous
bear that treed a boy and hung suspended by hii
boot; and of another bear that traveled as a passen-
ger by night in a stage coach; of the quarrelsome
cocks, pictured in a clearly English farm yard, that
were both eaten up by the fox that had been brought
in by the defeated cock; of the honest boy and the
thief who was judiciously kicked by the horse that
carried oranges in baskets; of George Washington
and his historic hatchet and the mutilated cherry-
tree; and of the garden that was planted with seeds
in lines spelling Washington's name which removed
all doubt as to an intelligent Creator. There were
also some lessons on such animals as beavers, whales,
peacocks and lions.

The Third Reader will be remembered first be-
cause of the picture, on the cover, of Napoleon on
his rearing charger. This book contained five se-
lections from the Bible; Croly's "Conflagration of
the Ampitheatre at Rome;" "How a Fly Walks on
the Ceiling;" "The Child's Inquiry;" "How big was
Alexander, Pa;" Irving's "Description of Pompey's
Pillar;" Woodwork's "Old Oaken Bucket;" Miss
Gould's "The Winter King;" and Scott's "Bonaparte
Crossing the Alps," commencing " 'Is the route prac-
ticable?' said Bonaparte- 'It is barely possible to
pass,' replied the engineer. 'Let us set forward,
then,' said Napoleon." The rearing steed facing a
t7]

jF#t»orftr Selection®

precipitous slope in the picture gave emphasis to the
words. There were also in this reader several pieces
about Indians and bears, which indicate that Dr.
McGuffey never forgot the stories told at the fire-
side by his father of his adventures as an Indian
scout and hunter.

In the Fourth Reader there were seventeen selec-
tions from the Bible; William Wirt's "Description of
the Blind Preacher;" Phillip's "Character of Napo-
leon Bonaparte;" Bacon's "Essay on Studies;" Nott's
"Speech on the Death of Alexander Hamilton;"
Addison's "Westminster Abbey;" Irving's "Alham-
bra;" Rogers's "Genevra;" Willis's "Parrhasius;"
Montgomery's "Make Way for Liberty;" two ex-
tracts from Milton and two from Shakespeare, and
no less than fourteen selections from the writings
of the men and women who lectured before the
College of Teachers in Cincinnati. The story of
the widow of the Pine Cottage sharing her last
smoked herring with a strange traveler who revealed
himself as her long-lost son, returning rich from the
Indies, was anonymous, but it will be remembered
by those who read it.

These selections were the most noteworthy ones
in the first editions of these readers.

The First and Second Readers of the McGuffey
Series were substantially made new at each re-
vision. A comparison of the original Third Reader
with an edition copyrighted in 1847, shows that the
latter book was increased about one-third in size.
[8]

Of the sixty-six selections in the early edition only
forty-seven were retained, while thirty new ones
were inserted. Among the latter were "Harry and
his Dog Frisk" that brought to him, punished by be-
ing sent to bed, a Windsor pear; "Perseverance," a
tale of kite-flying followed by the poem, "Try, try
again;" the "Little Philosopher," named Peter Hur-
dle, who caught Mr. Lenox's runaway horse and
on examination seemed to lack nothing but an
Eclectic spelling book, a reader and a Testament —
which were promised him; "The Colonists," in which
men of various callings offered their services, and
while even the dancing master was accepted as of
some possible use, the gentleman was scornfully
rejected; "Things by Their Right Names," in which
a battle was described as wholesale murder; "Little
Victories," in which Hugh's mother consoled him
for the loss of a leg by telling him of the lives of
men who became celebrated under even greater ad-
versities; "The Wonderful Instrument," which
turned out to be the eye; "Metaphysics," a ludicrous
description of a colonial salt-box in affected terms
of exactness designed to ridicule some forms of
reasoning. Those who used this edition of the third
reader will surely remember some of these selec-
tions.

In the Fourth Reader printed in 1844 there were
thirty new selections — less than one-third of the
book; but some of these were such as will be re-
membered by those who read them in school. There
was "Respect for the Sabbath Rewarded," in which
[9]

a barber of Bath had become so poor because he
would not shave his customers on Sunday, that he
borrowed a half-penny to buy a candle Saturday
night to give light for a late customer, and was
thus discovered to be the long-lost William Reed
of Taunton, heir to many thousand pounds; "The
Just Judge," who disguised himself as a miller and,
obtaining a place on the jury, received only five
guineas as a bribe when the others got ten, and who
revealed himself as Lord Chief Justice Hale and
tried the case over in his miller's clothing; Haw-
thorne's "The Town Pump;" Mrs. Southey's "April
Day."

"All day the low-hung clouds have dropped

Their garnered fullness down.
All day a soft gray mist hath wrapped
Hill, valley, grove and town."

Bryant's "Death of the Flowers;" Campbell's
"Lochiel's Warning;" and the trial scene from
Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. All these be-
came favorite reading exercises in later years.

As late as 1840 the Bible was read daily in all the
schools of the West. Although sectarian or denom-
inational teaching was not permitted, religious in-
struction was desired by the great majority of
school patrons.

Even up to the opening of the Civil War, what-
ever the faith or the practice of the adult inhabitants
of the country, the Bible story and the Bible diction

[10]

75r. StoftiflVo Opinion

were familiar to all The speeches of the popular
orators of that day were filled with distinct allu-
sions to the Bible and these were quickly and clearly
apprehended by the people. It may be questioned
whether popular speeches of the present day would
have equal force if based on the assumption that
everybody knows the Biblical stories. Indeed it is
a common remark made by professors of English
in the higher institutions of learning that pupils
know little of the Bible as a distinctly formative
and conservative element in English literature. In
the texts authorized for the study of English classics,
Biblical allusions are very common. These have lit-
tle meaning to pupils who have not read the Bible,
unless the passage is pointed out and hunted up.

From the pages of these readers the pupils learned
to master the printed word and obtain the thought
of the authors. Without conscious effort they re-
ceived moral instruction and incentives toward right
living. Without intent they treasured in their mem-
ories such extracts from the authors of the best
English Literature as gave them a desire to read
more.

In one of his sermons Dr. David Swing of Chicago
said: "Much as you may have studied the languages
or the sciences, that which most affected you was
the moral lessons in the series of McGuffey. And
yet the reading class was filed out only once a day
to read for a few moments, and then we were all
sent to our seats to spend two hours in learning
[ii]

how to bound New Hampshire or Connecticut, or
how long it would take a greyhound to overtake a
fox or a hare if the spring of each was so and so,
and the poor fugitive had such and such a start.
That was perhaps well, but we have forgotten how
to bound Connecticut, and how to solve the equation
of the field and thicket; but up out of the far-off
years come all the blessed lessons in virtue and
righteousness which those reading books taught;
and when we now remember, how even these moral
memories have faded I cannot but wish the
teachers had made us bound the States less, and
solve fewer puzzles in 'position* and the 'cube
root' and made us commit to memory the whole
series of the McGuffey Eclectic Readers. The mem-
ory that comes from these far-away pages is full
of the best wisdom of time or the timeless land.
In these books we were indeed led by a school-
master, from beautiful maxims for children up to
the best thoughts of a long line of sages, and poets,
and naturalists. There we all first learned the awful
weakness of the duel that took away a Hamilton;
there we saw the grandeur of the Blind Preacher of
William Wirt; there we saw the emptiness of the am-
bition of Alexander, and there we heard even the
infidel say, 'Socrates died like a philosopher, but
Jesus Christ like a God.' "

This public recognition of the influence of these
readers upon the mind and character of this great
preacher is again noted in Rev. Joseph Fort New-

[12]

a ffiapanrar lirarnrtt

ton's biography of David Swing in which the books
which influenced that life are named as "The Bible,
Calvin's Institutes, Fox's Book of Martyrs and the
McGuffey Readers;" and the author quotes David
Swing as saying that "The Institutes were rather
large reading for a boy, but to the end of his life
he held that McGuffey's Sixth Reader was a great
book. For Swing, as for many a boy in the older
West, its varied and wise selections from the best
English authors were the very gates of literature
ajar."

One of the most eminent political leaders of the
present day attributes his power in the use of Eng-
lish largely to the study of McGuffey's Sixth Reader
in the common schools of Ohio.

At a dinner lately given in New York to Marquis
Ito of Japan, the marquis responded to the toast of
his health returning thanks in English. He then
continued his remarks in Japanese for some eight
minutes. At its close Mr. Tsudjuki, who was then
the minister of Education in Japan, traveling with
Marquis Ito as his friend and companion, and who
had taken shorthand notes of the Japanese speech.
rose and translated the speech readily and fluently in-
to good English. One of the guests asked how he had
learned to speak English so correctly. He replied
that he had done so in the public schools of Japan
and added, "I learned my English from McGuffey's
Readers, with which you are no doubt familiar."

It is not unusual to see in the literary columns of

[13]

a daily newspaper inquiries as to where certain
poems may be found of which a single stanza is
faintly recalled. Many of these prove to be frag-
ments of pieces that are found in the McGufFey
Readers. Quite lately Theodore Roosevelt made the
public statement that he did not propose to become
a "Meddlesome Matty." This allusion was perfectly
clear to the millions of people who used the Mc-
Guffey Readers at any time after 1853.

When the Fourth Reader was issued in 1837 it
contained a preface of three closely printed pages
setting forth and defending the plan of McGuffey*s
books. In this he said: "In conclusion, the author
begs leave to state, that the whole series of Eclectic
Readers is his own. In the preparation of the rules,
etc., for the present volume he has had the assist-
ance of a very distinguished Teacher, whose judg-
ment and zeal in promoting the cause of education
have often been commended by the American people.
In the arrangement of the series generally, he is
indebted to many of his friends for valuable sug-
gestions, and he takes this opportunity of tendering
them his thanks for the lively interest they have
manifested for the success of his undertaking."

The sole author of the four readers first issued as
the Eclectic Readers was William Holmes McGuf-
fey. He was responsible for the marked qualities in
these books which met with such astonishing popular
approval in all these years. What these qualities are

CM]

?fic

is well known to those who have used the books and
the users are numbered by millions.

The Rhetorical Guide was prepared by Mr. A. H.
McGuffey, and his name alone was on the early
editions. In 1844 the book was revised by the au-
thor and Dr. Pinneo, and was given the alter-
nate title "or Fifth Reader of the Eclectic Series."
The work of revision occupied two years. The title
page carried the name of its author until, for reasons
of his own, he asked to have it removed.

As usual when revisions of schoolbooks are made,
the older edition was continued in publication so
long as a distinct demand for it existed. But the
issuance of a revised edition always suggests the
question of change, which competing publishers
promptly seek to bring about. The publishers of
the "Newly Revised McGaffey Readers," therefore,
sought to replace the older edition wherever it was
in use and to displace competing books wherever
possible. The edition of 1843 acquired large sales
over a very wide territory in the central West and
South. It is the edition generally known by the
grandfathers of the school boys of the present day.

It may be interesting to name some of the se-
lections in this Rhetorical Guide issued in 1844 since
in modified form the work has been the highest
reader of the series.

As a guide toward rhetorical reading the book
contained a carefully prepared collection of rules
and directions with examples for practice in Articu-

[15]

Selection* of

lation, Inflection, Accent and Emphasis, Reading
Verse, for the Management of the Voice and Gesture.
These pages were intended for drill work, and in
those days the teachers were not content with the
dull monotonous utterance of the words or with
mere mastery of thought, to be tested by multitud-
inous questioning. If the pupil obtained from the
printed page the very thought the author intended
to convey, the pupil was expected to read orally so
as to express that thought to all hearers. If the cor-
rect thought was thus heard, no questions were
needed. The test of reading orally is the communi-
cation of thought by the reader to the intelligent
and attentive hearer, and the words of the author
carry this message more accurately than can any
other words the pupil may select.

The selections in the Rhetorical Guide were made,
first of all, to teach the art of reading. There was
therefore great variety. Second, to inculcate a love
for literature. Therefore the selections were taken
from the great writers, — poets, orators, essayists,
historians, and preachers. The extracts are wonder-
fully complete in themselves, — one does not need to
read the whole of Byron's Don Juan to appreciate
the six stanzas that describe the thunder-storm on
the Alps. Of the poetical extracts all the
users of this book will remember Southey's "Cat-
aract of Lodore" with its exacting drill on the end-
ing,—-"ing," Longfellow's "Village Blacksmith" and
the "Reaper and the Flowers;" Bryant's "Thana-

[16]

llotcfc

topsis" and "Song of the Stars;" Wolfe's "Burial of
Sir John Moore;" Gray's "Elegy;" Mrs. Hemans's
"Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers;" Cowper's "My
Mother's Picture;" Jones's "What Constitutes a
State;" Scott's "Lochinvar;" Halleck's "Marco Boz-
zaris;" Drake's "American Flag;" and Mrs. Thrale's
"Three Warnings." As an introduction to the thought,
imagery and diction of Shakespeare, there were
"Hamlet's Soliloquy," "Speech of Henry Fifth to his
Troops," "Othello's Apology," 'The Fall of Cardinal
Wolsey" and his death, the "Quarrel of Brutus and
Cassius" (often committed to memory and spoken)
and Antony's Oration over dead Caesar. The ex-
tracts from orations were chosen largely for their
relation to great events in history. There were
Patrick Henry's "Speech before the Virginia Conven-
tion," Walpole's "Reproof of Mr. Pitt," and Pitt's
reply. Who cannot remember "The atrocious crime of
being a young man," and go on with the context?
There were extracts from Hayne's "Speech on South
Carolina," and Webster's reply defending Massa-
chusetts; a part of Burke's long speech on the Trial
of Warren Hastings prefaced by Macaulay's de-
scription of the scene; Webster's "Speech on the
Trial of a Murderer," ending with "It must be con-
fessed, it will be confessed; there is no refuge from
confession but suicide, and suicide is confession;"
Webster's speech on the Importance of the Union
with its concluding sentiment, "Liberty and Union,
now and forever; one and inseparable." There was

[17]

also Fox's "Political Pause" with its wonderful re-
quirements of inflection to express irony; Sprague's
"American Indians," "Not many generations ago,
where you now sit, encircled with all that exalts
and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nod-
ded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his hole un-
unscared." Did you not commit it to memory and
speak it? Then there was Webster's Speech in
which he supplied John Adams from his own fervid
imagination that favorite of all patriotic boys, "Sink
or swim, live or die, survive or perish; I give my
hand and my heart to this vote." At its close,
"it is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing ot
God, it shall be my dying sentiment; independence
now, and independence forever."

From the essayists there was Lamb's "Eulogy on
Candle Light;" that delightful "Eulogy on Debt"
from an unknown author; Addison's "Allegory on
Discontent," and "Westminster Abbey;" and Jane
Taylor's "Discontented Pendulum." Only seven
selections were taken from the Bible; but one of
these was Paul's Defense before Agrippa. There
were, however, quite a number of articles of strongly
religious tendency, like Dr. Spring's "Observance of
the Sabbath."

The book contained two hundred and thirty-five
selections and of this number nearly one-half ap-
peared in all subsequent revisions.

This Rhetorical Guide or Fifth Reader is the book
that by its careful selection of specimens of the best

[18]

'o ?liirr0trtf

English literature in prose and verse contributed
most to the training of its readers toward the ap-
preciation of true beauty in literature. It contained
many pieces of solid and continuous worth, — many
that relate closely to the great historical eras of the
United States.

In the latest revision of the highest reader, made
in 1879, one hundred and thirty-eight selections
composed the book. Of this number sixty-one were
in the original book as prepared by Mr. A. H.
McGuffey.

It was an admirable collection of much material
that is still prized and which, when carefully read
by pupils hungry for thoughtful language, made a
deep and lasting impression. In many cases the in-
most thought of the author may not have been at
once fully apprehended by the young readers; but
with advancing years and wider experience in life
the stored words became instinct with thought and
feeling.

THE AUTHORS.

Dr. William Holmes McGuffey was born Septem-
ber 28, 1800, on the southern border of Washington
county, Pa. The family descended from William
and Anna (McKittrick) McGuffey who came from
Scotland, and landed at Philadelphia. They made
a home in the southern part of York county, at

[19]

XttVf ait Scotita

which, during the Revolution, General Washington
often stopped to refresh himself. In 1789 this
family removed to Washington county, Pa.

Alexander McGuffey, the father of Dr. McGuffey,
was six years old when the family came to America
in August, 1774. In 1790, when he was twenty-two
years of age, he and his friend, Duncan McArthur,
afterward a governor of Ohio, were selected from
five young men who volunteered to act as scouts
against the Indians in Ohio who were then threat-
ening the frontier settlements in the western part
of Virginia and Pennsylvania. These two young
men were selected after tests by Samuel Brady to
find which could run the fastest, shoot most accu-
rately, and were least afraid of Indians. Alexander
McGuffey served in the army three years, venturing
his life with small bodies of scouts in the Indian
country. He took part in several fights with the
Indians. When General St. Clair in 1792 marched
north from Cincinnati to meet the Indians, this body
of scouts was one day concealed in a swamp near
the spring of Castalia, Ohio. There they saw great
numbers of Indians passing to meet General St.
Clair, and three of the scouts hastened through the
Indian country to inform the general. They traveled
only at night and hid during the day. One "ight
they marched forty miles. They told General St • ^iair
what they had seen and again went out to watch the
collecting Indians. Three days later St. Clair was
defeated. These scouts were then twelve miles away

[20]

* it ft tan COT.trf.trr

but the retreating soldiers soon overtook them and
then the "woods were alive with Indians." The
scouts turned eastward and in due time reached
Logstown, near Wheeling.

The next year McArthur, McGuffey and George
Sutherland were again sent out by General Wayne
to spy the Indians. When only seven or eight miles
from Wheeling and west of the Ohio river, they
came upon a trail which led to a deer lick. Just at
dusk McGuffey, who was leading the party, saw in
the path the gaily decorated head-dress of an Indian.
It had been placed there by the Indians who were in
ambush close by and were ready to shoot any white
man who should stop to pick it up. McGuffey saw
through the stratagem instantly; without halting, he
gave it a kick and shouted "Indians!" Several In-
dians fired at once and one of the balls smashed
McGuffey's powder horn, and passed through his
clothing, but did not wound him. The three scouts
retreated in safety, and the Indians did not follow
them.

The wars with the Indians in that region closed
in 1794, and Alexander McGuffey then married Anna
Holmes, of Washington county, and became a set-
tler. His eldest son was William Holmes McGuffey.
When this son was but two years old the family
moved to Trumbull county, Ohio. Here, in the
care of a pious mother and father, he spent the years
of childhood and of early manhood, performing the
labors falling upon the eldest son in a large family

[21]

of children dwelling in a log cabin on the frontier.
From the heavy forest, fields were cleared, fenced
and cultivated, roads were made and bridges were
built, and in all these labors the sturdy son of the
famous Indian scout took part.

During the first eighteen years of W. H. McGuf-
fey's life he had no opportunities for education other
than those afforded by the brief winter schools sup-
ported by the voluntary subscriptions of the parents
in the neighborhood.

In 1802 Rev. Thos. Hughes, a Presbyterian clergy-
man, built at Darlington, Pa., the "Old Stone Acad-
emy" for the education of young men, having ob-
tained the necessary funds by traveling on horse-
back throughout Pennsylvania and eastward even to
Newburyport, Mass.

This seminary of learning was conducted on lines
of the utmost economy to meet the needs of the
boys living on the frontier. The tuition was only
three dollars a year and the charge for board was
seventy-five cents a week. The food was simple.
For breakfast, bread, butter, and coffee; for dinner,
bread, meat, and sauce; for supper, bread and milk.
The only variation allowed in this bill of fare was
the occasional omission of sauce or coffee.

At the close of a summer day in 1818, Thomas
Hughes was riding horseback through Trumbull
county. The dust on the highway deadened the
sound of his horse's feet. While passing a log cabin,
half hidden from the road by intervening trees and

[22]

Sbtonc

shrubs, he heard the plaintive voice of a woman who
was in the garden, out of sight The clergyman
stopped his horse and listened. He heard the woman
earnestly praying that some way might be opened
for her children to obtain such education as should
fit them for the duties of life. Riding on, the clergy-
man inquired at the next house regarding the in-
mates of the log cabin. He was informed that a Mr.
McGuffey lived there. Turning back he sought the
prayerful mother and learned from her the circum-
stances of the family. The doori of the "Old Stone
Academy" were opened to William H. McGuffey and
he there obtained his first start in a preparation for
college. But his labor could not be wholly spared
on the farm so lately won from the surrounding
forest. He worked in the fields in summer, continu-
ing his studies and walked many miles once a week
to recite his lessons to a kindly clergyman.

W. H. McGuffey's father was too poor to aid his
son in obtaining a collegiate education, and the lat-
ter soon turned to teaching as a means of obtaining
money to support himself in college. When prepared
for college he went back to his native county and en-
tered Washington College. He was in his twenty-
sixth year when he graduated with distinguished
honors from that institution.

It was at Washington College that W. H. McGuf-
fey first met with a great teacher and former of
character, — Dr. Andrew Wylie, then the president
It was considered by Dr. McGuffey one of the most

[23]

Collect JJrof ceaor

fortunate events of his life that he came at that
time under the influence of Dr. Wylie's forceful mind
and elevated character.

Dr. McGuffey was obliged to suspend his collegi-
ate course for a year to earn more money for his
support. He taught a private school at Paris, Ky.,
in 1823 and 1824. There he met Dr. Robert H.
Bishop, the president of Miami University at Oxford,
Ohio. Dr. Bishop was so impressed with the char-
acter and mental power of the young teacher that
on March 29, 1826, even before McGuffey received
his bachelor's degree from Washington College, he
received his appointment as professor of Ancient
Languages at Miami University.

He graduated in 1826 and began his labor at Ox-
ford, Ohio, at the opening of the fall session. He
at once took high rank in a faculty consisting of
strong men, and, young as he was, won the respect
and homage of the students. In 1832 he was trans-
ferred to the chair of Mental Philosophy. To make
this subject interesting and valuable to beginners
requires, on the part of the teacher, wide reading,
clearness of thought, and simplicity and directness
of speech. These qualities Dr. McGuffey had. He
had become well read in philosophy, especially of
the Scottish school. Brown being his favorite au-
thor. But he had fully assimilated the matter and
had thought independently. He also had a fund of
fresh and suggestive illustrations coming within the
daily experience of men, which brought his lectures

[24]

Ct'nrf itn.Ui Collrar

close to the minds of the students. Whatever po-
sitions of honor or of trust his pupils held in their
later careers, they never ceased to feel the impulse
which came from Dr. McGuffey as a teacher.

On March 29, 1829, he was licensed as a preacher
in the Presbyterian church, and from that date he
became a frequent public speaker. He never had
charge of a parish as minister, but usually preached
on Sunday in the college chapel to the students and
to such of the public as could obtain space to sit
or to stand. The preacher's unassuming manner,
the clearness of his thought, and the simplicity of
his language produced impressions that were endur-
ing. He never wrote his sermons. He simply
thought them out rigorously, and his mind worked
so logically and in such definite lines that he could
repeat on request a sermon, preached years before,
in a form recognized by his hearers as substantially
the same.

After ten years spent in teaching and preaching
at Miami University, Dr. McGuffey resigned, August
26, 1836, and accepted the presidency of Cincinnati
College.

This institution was chartered in the winter of
1818-1819 by the legislature of Ohio, largely at the
solicitation of Dr. Daniel Drake. It was partially
endowed by the gifts of the public-spirited citizens
of Cincinnati. But its collegiate functions had been
allowed to drop, although a school on the Lancas-
trian system was maintained.

[25]

gf nttr r0f tt>

The election of Dr. McGuffey as president of this
college was a result of renewed activity, on the part
of the leading men in the city to found a genuine
college of high character in that city. They be-
lieved that if well conducted such an institution
would bring to its doors students enough to support
the college by their fees.

A medical department was organized in June, 1835,
with eight competent professors, a law department
with three professors, and a faculty of arts with seven
teachers. In this faculty, William H. McGuffey was
president and professor of Moral and Intellectual
Philosophy, O. M. Mitchell was professor of Mathe-
matics and Astronomy, and Edward D. Mansfield
was professor of Constitutional Law and History.
Dr. McGuffey accepted the presidency with a full
knowledge that the work was experimental. A trial
of three years demonstrated that a college could
not be sustained without an invested endowment.
Cincinnati College "was endowed with genius, and
nothing else."

In 1839, Dr. McGuffey accepted the presidency of
the Ohio University at Athens, Ohio, which office
he held for four years. During these years his fac-
ulties were at their fullest development. He had be-
come an experienced, scholarly teacher and a pop-
ular speaker on religious and educational subjects.
The students at Athens held him in the highest es-
teem, and the influence of his teaching became deeper

[26]

«nfUcvo«tt» Of Uf rftf itfa

as years rolled by and experience emphasized his
lessons.

In 1839 he was honored with the degree of Doctor
of Laws conferred upon him by the Indiana Univer-
sity, of which his former teacher and friend, Dr.
Wylie, was then president.

The income of the Ohio University came chiefly
from the rents of two entire townships of land which
had been given it for an endowment. This land was
lawfully revalued at the end of ten years. The re-
valuation was contested in the courts by the tenants.
The Supreme Court decided in favor of the univer-
sity; but the farmers induced the legislature in 1843
to pass a law which fixed the income of the univer-
sity from these lands at a sum so low as to cause
the doors of the institution to be closed for five
years.

Dr. McGuffey returned to Cincinnati and was for
two years a professor in Woodward College, now
Woodward High School.

In 1845 he was appointed professor of Natural and
Moral Philosophy in the University of Virginia.
This position he filled with credit to himself and
with great acceptance to the students in that institu-
tion for more than a quarter of a century and until
his death on May 4, 1873.

Dr. McGuffey's classes in the University of Vir-
ginia were well attended. His lectures were delivered
extempore, in language exactly expressing his
thoughts. His illustrations were most apt. He
[27]

l*Utf)oU of

taught "with the simplicity of a child, with the pre-
cision of a mathematician, and with the authority
of truth."

A portion of the lecture hour was given to ques-
tioning the members of the class. In this he used
the Socratic method, leading the pupil by a series
of questions to the discovery of the incorrectness of
his reasoning or the falsity of his grounds. By this
process the students were led to question their own
reasoning, to think clearly and to express their
thoughts accurately.

Dr. McGuffey once told a pupil that he had
preached three thousand sermons and had never
written one. Until late in life he had never written
his lectures. Shortly before his death he began the
preparation of a book on Mental Philosophy. This
was never completed.

Dr. McGuffey was twice married. By his first
wife. Miss Harriet Spinning of Dayton, he had sev-
eral children. One daughter, Mary, married Dr.
William W. Stewart of Dayton; another, Henrietta,
married Professor A. D. Hepburn who was for a
time president of Miami University. Professor Hep-
burn's son, in turn inheriting his grandfather's fac-
ulty of teaching, is a professor in the University of
Indiana.

In 1837 Professor Calvin E. Stowe went to Europe
to investigate the organization and method of ele-
mentary schools. On his return he published, in
1838, his report on the Prussian system. Subsequent-

[28]

Interest in

ly Dr. McGuffey labored in Ohio with Samuel Lewis
and other public-spirited men for the passage of the
general school law under which the common schools
of Ohio were first organized. He carried to Virginia
the same zeal for the education of all the children of
the state to prepare them for the duties of life. One
of his first acts on assuming the duties of his pro-
fessorship in the university was to make a tour of
the state advocating the introduction of a public
school system in Virginia. To this first appeal for
common schools, open alike to rich and poor, there
was then but a feeble response; but, twenty-five years
later, Dr. McGuffey had the satisfaction of seeing
the public schools organized with one of his own
friends and a former pupil at its head, — Hon. W. H.
Ruffner.

Dr. McGuffey was a man of medium stature and
compact figure. His forehead was broad and full;
his eyes clear and expressive. His features were of
the strongly marked rugged Scotch type. He was
a ready speaker, a popular lecturer on educational
topics, and an able preacher. He was admirable in
conversation. His observation of men was accurate,
and his study of character close.

After the Civil War and while the reconstruction
was in progress it was extremely difficult in the
North to obtain a correct view of the situation in the
South. State governments had been established in
which "carpet-baggers" had more or less control.
Nearly all the whites in the South had taken part

[29]

in the war. They were largely disfranchised and
their former servants often became the legal rulers.
The Klu Klux Klan had begun their unlawful work,
of which the papers gave contradictory reports.

As business men, the publishers of McGuffey's
Readers desired to learn the truth about the situa-
tion of the South and its probable future. They
asked Dr. McGuffey to take a trip through the Caro-
linas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi and make
report to them at Cincinnati. This he did, visiting
all the larger towns where he was usually the hon-
ored guest of some graduate of the university. He
saw the legislatures in session, met the governors,
and studied the whole situation. He then came to
Cincinnati and told his story. He had made no notes,
but he never hesitated for a name. He repeated con-
versations with unquestioned accuracy and described
with humor the gross ignorance and brutality of
some of the southern legislators, the looting of the
capitol at the end of the session, the indirect robbery
that was under way, the reversal of all the conditions
of life, and the growing unrest of the men who had
heretofore been the rulers.

It was such a picture as at that time no Northern
paper would have dared to print — it was the truth.
For days he held his listeners captive with the story
^-the writer never heard a more interesting one.

While Dr. McGuffey was still at Oxford, Ohio,
he took part in the formation of probably the first
extended Teachers' Association formed in the West.

[30]

CoUcftr of

There had been a previous association of Cincin-
nati teachers organized for mutual aid and improve-
ment. This was about to be given up ; but at their first
anniversary on June 20, 1831, Mr. Albert Pickett,
principal of a private school in Cincinnati, proposed
a plan for organizing in one body the instructors in
public and private schools and the friends of edu-
cation. Circulars were sent out and the first meet-
ing of the College of Teachers was held October 3,
1832. A great number of teachers from many states
of the West and South attended these meetings and
took part in the proceedings. Throughout its con-
tinuance Dr. McGuffey took an active part in the
work. In the years 1832-1836 fifty-seven addresses
were delivered to the College by thirty-nine speak-
ers. Of this number Dr. McGuffey prepared and
delivered three.

The proceedings of the College of Teachers were
published in annual pamphlets which together formed
two large octavo volumes. The topics which were
then under discussion are best shown by the titles
of a few of the addresses, with the name of the
speaker and the year of delivery:

On Introducing the Bible into Schools, Rev. B. P.
Aydelott, 1836; Importance of making the business
of Teaching a Profession, Lyman Beecher, D. D.,
1833; The Kind of Education Adapted to the West,
Professor Bradford, 1833; Qualifications of Teach-
ers, Mr. Mann Butler, 1832; Physical Education, Dr.
Daniel Drake, 1833; On Popular Education, John P.

[31]

Harrison, M. D., 1836; On the Study and Nature of
Ancient Languages, A. Kinmont, 1832; On Common
Schools, Samuel Lewis, Esq., 1835; On the Qualifi-
cations of Teachers, E. D. Mansfield, Esq., 1836;
Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Teachers, Rev. W.
H. McGuffey, A. M., 1835; General Duties of Teach-
ers, Albert Pickett, 1835; Philosophy of the Human
Mind, Bishop Purcell, 1836; Utility of Cabinets of
Natural Science, Joseph Ray, 1836; Agriculture as a
Branch of Education, Rev. E. Slack, 1836; Education
of Emigrants, Professor Calvin Stowe, 1835; Best
Method of Teaching Composition, D. L. Talbott,
1835; Manual Labor in the Schools, Milo G. Williams.

Some of these topics are still engrossing the at-
tention of teachers at their annual meetings for the
discussion of live educational questions.

While Dr. McGuffey was at Oxford, teaching men-
tal philosophy to the pupils in Miami University,
he prepared the manuscript for the two lower read-
ers of the graded series which bore his name. To
test his work while in progress, he collected in his
own house a number of small children whom he
taught to read by the use of his lessons.

It is evident that these readers were prepared at
the solicitation of the publishers and on such a gen-
eral plan as to number and size as was desired by the
publishers. Dr. McGuffey was selected by them as
the most competent teacher known to them for the
preparation of successful books. He did not pre-
pare the manuscripts and search for a publisher.

[32]

Coi)i»rf 0fjt Contract

On April 28, 1836, he made a contract with
Truman & Smith, publishers of Cincinnati, for the
preparation and publication of a graded series of
readers to consist of four books. The First and Sec-
ond readers were then in manuscript, the Third and
Fourth readers were to be completed within eighteen
months. They were both issued in 1837. Dr. Ben-
jamin Chidlaw, then a student in college, aided the
author by copying the indicated selections and pre-
paring them for the printer. He received for this
work five dollars and thought himself well paid.

These four books constituted the original series
of the Eclectic Readers by W. H. McGuffey which
in all the subsequent revisions have borne his name
and retained the impress of his mind.

The First Reader made a thin 18mo book of sev-
enty-two pages, having green paper covered sides;
the Second Reader contained one hundred and sixty-
four pages of the same size. The Third Reader had a
larger page and was printed as a duodecimo of one
hundred and sixty-five pages. The fourth Reader
ranked in size with the Third and contained three
hundred and twenty-four printed pages. Each was
printed from the type, which was distributed when
the required number for the edition came from the
press.

By the terms of the contract the publishers paid a
royalty of ten per cent on all copies sold until the
copyright should reach the sum of one thousand dol-
lars, after which the Readers became the absolute

[33]

Contracts

property of the publishers. It must be remembered
that in those days this sum of money seemed much
larger than it would at the present time, and it may
be questioned whether this newly organized firm
of publishers commanded as much as a thousand
dollars in their entire business. At any rate the
contract was mutually satisfactory and remained so
to the end of the author's life. Right here it seems
proper to remark that although the McGuffey read-
ers became the property of the publishers when the
royalties reached one thousand dollars, Dr. McGuffey
was employed by the publishers in connection with
important revisions so long as he lived and the con-
tracts specify a "satisfactory consideration" in each
case.

When, after the Civil War, these readers attained
a sale which became very profitable to the firm then
owning the copyrights, the partners, without sug-
gestion or solicitation, fixed upon an annuity which
was paid Dr. McGuffey each year so long as he lived.
This was a voluntary recognition of their esteem
for the man and of the continued value of his work.

Before Dr. McGuffey completed the manuscripts
of the Third and Fourth readers he left Oxford and
went to Cincinnati. Here he found himself in close
touch with a community fully alive to the claims of
education. Cincinnati, in 1837, was the largest city
in the West excepting New Orleans and was the
great educational center of the West. The early
settlers of Cincinnati were generally well educated

[34]

rt)c ttcccljrv

men and they had a keen sense of the value of learn-
ing. The public schools of Cincinnati were then
more highly developed than those of any other city
in the West. Woodward High School had been
endowed and Dr. Joseph Ray, the author of the well
known arithmetics, was the professor of mathematics
there. The Cincinnati College was then bright with
the promise of future usefulness. Lane Seminary
was founded arid Dr. Lyman Beecher was inducted
professor of Theology on December 26, 1832, and
became the first president. He went to Cincinnati
with his brilliant family. His eldest daughter, Cath-
erine, had already won a high reputation as a teacher,
acting as principal of the Hartford (Conn.) Female
Institute. His younger daughter, Harriet, married,
in January, 1836, Calvin E. Stowe, then one of the
professors in Lane Seminary. It was while in Cin-
cinnati that she gathered material and formed opin-
ions which she later embodied in "Uncle Tom's
Cabin." In 1834 Henry Ward Beecher graduated at
Amherst College. He and his brother, Charles, then
went to Cincinnati to study theology under their
father. While pursuing his studies Henry Ward
Beecher devoted his surplus energies to editorial
work on the Cincinnati Daily Journal. These were
some of the people of Cincinnati interested in the
problem of education who took part with Dr. Mc-
Guffey in the discussions of the College of Teachers
and labored zealously for the promotion of education
in every department. While president of Lane Sem-

[35]

inary, Dr. Beecher was also the pastor of the Second
Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati where W. B.
Smith was an attendant.

Dr. McGuffey left Cincinnati in 1839, and when the
publisher, Mr. Winthrop B. Smith, found it neces-
sary to add to the four McGuffey's Readers another
more advanced book, he employed for its prepara-
tion, Mr. Alexander H. McGuffey, a younger brother
of Dr. McGuffey. Mr. Alexander H. McGuffey had,
in 1837, prepared for Messrs. Truman & Smith the
manuscript of McGuffey's Eclectic Spelling Book,
and although the nature of this task was very differ-
ent from the preparation of a reader for the highest
grades in the elementary schools, the result showed
that the publishers judged wisely in selecting z. .nan
competent to prepare a selection from English lit-
erature.

Mr. Alexander Hamilton McGuffey was born
August 13, 1816, in Trumbull County, Ohio. He
was sixteen years younger than his brother, William,
and when only ten years of age was placed under
charge of his brother at Oxford, Ohio. There he
studied Hebrew before he had any knowledge of
the grammar of his mother tongue. He was a bril-
liant student, and he graduated from Miami Uni-
versity at the age of sixteen. Soon after graduation
he was appointed Professor of Belles Lettrt^ at
Woodward College. In this field of labor his knowl-
edge of English literature was broadened and he
acquired a love for the classic English writers that

[36]

ALEXANDER H. McGUFFEY

CufTir

lasted through life. But Mr. McGuffey determined
to become a lawyer and, while still teaching English
literature in Woodward College, he read law. He
was admitted to the bar as soon as he reached his
twenty-first year, and became a noted and wise
counsellor. His labor for his clients was in keeping
them out of the courts by clearly expressed con-
tracts and prudent action. He was seldom engaged
in jury trials; but was expert in cases involving
contracts and wills. In such suits his knowledge
of the principles of law and his power of close
reasoning were valuable. He was often placed in
positions of trust, and was for more than fifty years
the watchful guardian of the interests of the Cin-
cinnati College.

He prepared the manuscript of the Rhetorical
Guide after the close of his labor as a teacher. The
work probably occupied his leisure time in a law
office before he acquired remunerative practice in
his profession.

The contract between Mr. A. H. McGuffey and W.
B. Smith, dated September 30, 1841, provided for the
preparation within eighteen months, of the manu-
script of a book to be called McGuffey's Rhetorical
Reader, or by any other appropriate name which
Mr. Smith might select. It was to contain not less
than three hundred and twenty-four duodecimo pages
nor more than four hundred and eighty. Mr. Smith
paid five hundred dollars for it, in three notes pay-
able in three, twelve, and eighteen months after the

[37]

delivery of the manuscript. The book was issued in
1844 as McGuffey's Rhetorical Guide. Its material,
revised by its author, later became, in modified form,
the Fifth Reader in the five-book series, and again
much of the same material was used in the Sixth
Reader published first in 1855.

Mr. A. H. McGuffey died at his home on Mt.
Auburn, Cincinnati, on June 3, 1896. He was twice
married. His first wife, married in 1839, was Miss
Elizabeth M. Drake, daughter of the eminent Dr.
Daniel Drake. After her death he married Miss
Caroline V. Rich of Boston. He had a large family.
A son, Charles D. McGuffey, Esq., lives at Chatta-
nooga, Tenn.

Mr. A. H. McGuffey was a noteworthy figure in
any assemblage of men. He was tall, slender and
erect. His manner was urbane and reserved. He
served on many charitable and educational boards
and was attentive to his trusts. He was an active
member of the Episcopalian Church, being many
years a warden in his parish, and frequently a dele-
gate to the Diocesan Convention, where he was a
recognized authority on Ecclesiastical Law.

In a life of nearly eighty years in which he was
active in many educational and beneficent enter-
prises his early work in the preparation of the Rhet-
orical Guide probably exercised the widest, the best,
and the most enduring influence. Many of the news-
papers in all parts of the country published notices
of his death, recognizing in kindly terms the service

[38]

£rum.tn

that had been rendered the writers by the schoolbook
of which he was the author.

THE PUBLISHERS AND EDITORS.

Since the McGuffey Readers became at an early
day the absolute property of their publishers, they
became responsible for all subsequent revisions and
corrections of the books.

The firm of Truman & Smith was organized about
1834 by William B. Truman and Winthrop B. Smith.
Both had had some experience in the business of
selling books. It is highly probable that this firm
became for a short time the Western agent for some
schoolbooks made in the East. But Mr. Smith soon
perceived a distinct demand for a series adapted to
the Western market and supplied near at hand. He
had the courage to follow his convictions.

Mr. Winthrop B. Smith was born in Stamford,
Conn., September 28, 1808, the son of Anthony and
Rebecca (Clarke) Smith. He was, in his youth, an
employee in a book-house in New Haven. At the
age of eighteen he went to Cincinnati, declaring that
he would not return to his home until he was in-
dependent. He labored there fourteen years before
he returned, not rich, but established in an inde-
pendent career. He often declared that until 1840,
he was "insolvent, but no one knew it."

Before entering business, Mr. Smith received a
sound common school education. This, grounded
on a nature well endowed with common sense, great
[39]

ffii&t jluWc.tt I ona

energy, and strong determination, qualified him for
success in business. He became a man of great
originality, clear-headed and far-sighted. Toward
his employees he was just, but exacting. He was
a good judge of the character and qualities of other
men, and was thus able to bring to his aid competent
assistants who were loyal and effective.

Mr. Smith married in Cincinnati on November
4th, 1834, Mary Sargent. He died in Philadelphia,
December 5th, 1885, in his 78th year. Of his family,
one son is a banker in Philadelphia.

The firm of Truman & Smith published several
miscellaneous books, mostly reprints of standard
works likely to have a steady sale. Their first
venture in a copyrighted book was "The Child's
Bible with Plates; by a lady of Cincinnati," which
was entered on June 2, 1834. On June 21st of the
same year the firm entered the titles of three books:
"Mason's Sacred Harp," a collection of church music
by Lowell Mason of Boston, and Timothy B. Mason
of Cincinnati; "Introduction to Ray's Eclectic Arith-
metic," by Dr. Joseph Ray; and "English Grammar
on the Productive System," by Roswell C. Smith.
Of these four books the arithmetic was issued on
July 4, 1834. It was the firm's first schoolbook. In
revised and enlarged form it later became the first
book in the successful series of "Ray's Arithmetics."

But even in those early days, books would not sell
themselves unless their qualities were made known
to the public. Agents had to be employed — and at

[40]

first Mr. Smith was his own best agent. There
were expenses for travel and for sample books, for
advertising, as well as for printing and binding.

The Truman and Smith team did not always pull
together. Mr. Truman was not versed in the school-
book business. Mr. Smith was.

It is said that Mr. Smith went early one morning
to their humble shop on the second floor of No. 150
Main street, and made two piles of sample books.
In one he put all the miscellaneous publications of
the firm, big and little — the Child's Bible and Sacred
Harp among them — and on top of the pile placed
all the cash the firm possessed; in the other, were
half a dozen small text books, including the four
McGuffey Readers. When Mr. Truman arrived, Mr.
Smith expressed the desire to dissolve the partner-
ship, showed the two piles and offered Mr. Truman
his choice. He pounced on the cash and the larger
pile and left the insignificant schoolbooks for Mr.
Smith, who thereupon became the sole owner of
McGuffey's Readers.

This separation of the partnership took place in
1841 and although there is no documentary evidence
cf the exact method in which it was brought about,
the division of assets was in accord with the spirit
of the incident as handed down by tradition.

Mr. Truman's apparent disgust with the school-
book business may have come in part from a law-
suit in which his firm was made a defendant. Sooner
or later, publishers are quite likely to obtain some

[41]

elementary instructions as to the meaning and intent
of the copyright law through action taken in court.
Messrs. Truman & Smith took a lesson in 1838.

On October 1st of that year Benjamin F. Copeland
and Samuel Worcester brought suit in the court of
the United States against Truman & Smith and Wil-
liam H. McGuffey for infringement of copyright,
alleging that material had been copied from Wor-
cester's Second, Third, and Fourth Readers and that
even the plan of the two latter readers had been
pirated.

A temporary injunction was issued December 25,
1838; but before that date the McGuffey Readers had
been carefully compared with the Worcester Read-
ers and every selection was removed that seemed in
the slightest degree an invasion of the previous
copyright of the Worcester Readers. As these Mc-
Guffey books were still not sterotyped, it cost no
more to set up new matter than to reset the old.
On the title page of each book appeared the words,
"Revised and Improved Edition," and two pages in
explanation and Defense were inserted. In these the
publishers stated that certain compilers of school-
books, in New England, felt themselves aggrieved
that the McGuffey books contained a portion of mat-
ter similar to their own which was considered com-
mon property, and had instituted legal proceedings
against them with a view to the immediate suppres-
sion of the McGuffey books and in the meantime had

[42]

of I00ttr

provided supplies of the Worcester books to meet
the demand of the West.

No objection was raised to meeting these com-
pilers on their own grounds; but for both parties
there was another tribunal than the law. "The pub-
lic never choose schoolbooks to please compilers.*'
They stated that to place themselves entirely in
the right and remove every cause for cavil or com-
plaint they had expunged everything claimed as
original, and substituted other matter, which, both
for its fitness and variety would add to the value of
the Eclectic Readers. Throughout this preface,
after stating the facts regarding the suit, there was
a strong claim for the support of Western enterprise.

Although in this appeal the publishers stated that
the correspondences between the two series were
"few and immaterial," a careful comparison of the
early edition of the Second Reader with the "Re-
vised and Improved Edition" shows that Mr. Smith
took out seventeen selections and inserted in their
places new matter. To an unprejudiced examiner it
appears that the new matter was better than the old.
The old marked copy of Worcester's Second Reader,
preserved for all these years, shows ten pieces that
were used in both books. It thus appears that the
publisher took this opportunity to improve the books
as well as to make them unassailable under the
copyright law. In three months between the bring-
ing of the suit and the granting of an injunction,

[43]

Suit

Mr. Smith had made his improved edition safe and
rendered the injunction practically void.

The court proceeded in the usual manner and ap-
pointed a master to examine the books and make
report to ascertain what damage had been inflicted
on the owners of the Worcester Readers. But Mr.
Smith was an attendant in church and doubtless had
heard Dr. Beecher read, "Agree with thine adver-
sary quickly while thou art in the way with him,
lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the
judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and
thou be cast into prison," and he had no desire to
remain there until he had "paid the uttermost farth-
ing."

When the master, in the leisurely execution of his
duty, made his report nearly two years later, the
court found that the defendants had removed from
their books the pirated parts and that the suit had
been settled by paying the plaintiffs two thousand
dollars. There was no further contest about the plan
of the two books.

The Worcester Readers had a short and incon-
spicuous life. When this suit was brought, their
publishers were Richardson, Lord and Holbrook of
Boston. In 1836 Charles J. Hendee published them,
and in 1854 they appeared with the name of Jenks,
Hickling & Swan of Boston. These several pub-
lishers were probably gobbled up by some imaginary
Book Trust sixty years ago.

Dr. McGuffey undoubtedly inserted these selections

[44]

ISarlg

innocent of any wrong intent and supposed them to
be in common use.

As early as 1848 the success of the Eclectic Read-
ers was sufficient to excite imitation and in the First
Reader of that year Mr. Smith printed four prelim-
inary pages warning his patrons not to be deceived
by "Newman's Southern Eclectic Readers."

In the first century after the settlement of this
country the New England Primer had a history
which in some respects resembles that of the Mc-
Guffey Readers. In that case, the settlers were wide-
ly removed from the source of supply which had
in past years served their needs. The Primer was
strongly religious and fully in accord with the faith
of the people. It served as a first book in reading
and was followed by the Bible. This Primer was
not protected by copyright and any enterprising
bookseller or printer in a remote town could man-
ufacture an edition to supply the local demand. The
excessive cost of transportation was thus avoided.

Somewhat similar causes contributed to the wide-
spread use and long-continued demands for Web-
ster's Spelling Book, which was copyrighted. This
book had the support of the authority of Webster's
Dictionary — an original American work; and it soon
became a staple article of merchandise which was
kept in stock in every country store. It supplanted
the New England Primer and became the first book
in the hands of every pupil. Less marked in its
religious instruction, the speller spread through the

[45]

South and into regions where the people were not
trained in the Puritan doctrines. The wonderful
sales of Webster's Spelling Book remained for many
years after the War; but have now dropped to in-
significance. It is not probable that other books
will under present conditions repeat the history of
these books. There is now no wide region of fertile
country rapidly filling with settlers and separated
from their former sources of supply by great dis-
tance and by mountain ranges unprovided with pass-
able roads. Even the more newly settled regions
of the country are reached by railroads and the parts
early settled are covered by a network of railroads,
of telegraph and telephone wires which bring the
consumer and the producer near together.

In the manufacture of books as with most other
articles, machinery has taken the place of hand
work. When W. B. Smith carried on his business
in the second story over a small shop on Main street,
Cincinnati, nearly every process in the manufacture
of a book was mere hand labor. The tools employed
were of the simplest character. Now a book-factory
is filled with heavy machines of the most compli-
cated kind, which in many cases feed themselves
from stocks of material placed upon them. New
machines are constantly being invented to cheapen
and perfect the manufacture. Thus a very large in-
vestment of capital is now required to set up and
maintain a plant which can produce books economi-
cally and with perfect finish in every part. Books

[46]

are seldom manufactured in places remote from the
large cities and very few of the publishers of school-
books make the books which they sell. They con-
tract for them with printers and binders.

The first four editions of McGuffey's Readers were
printed from the actual type, as all books were once
printed; but before 1840 the readers were produced
from sterotyped plates. The use of such plates
enabled the publisher to secure greater accuracy in
the work and also enabled him to present books that
in successive editions should be exactly the same
in substance as those already in use. Since that
date electrotype plates have displaced stereotypes,
as they afford a sharper, clearer impression and en-
dure more wear.

In a First Reader printed in the fall of 1841 there
are two pages of advertising matter in which Tru-
man & Smith claimed to have sold 700,000 of the
Eclectic Series. This book is bound with board
sides and a muslin back and a careful defense of this
binding is made, claiming that the muslin is "much
more durable than the thin tender leather usually
put upon books of this class." This statement was
unquestionably true. The leather referred to was of
sheepskin and of very little strength, but it took
very many years to convince the public of the un-
truth of the saying, "There is nothing like leather."

It is said that Mr. Smith, in the early days of his
career as a publisher, himself made the changes and
corrections which experience showed were needed;

[47]

. ilf nnro*

but, about 1843, he employed Dr. Timothy Stone
Pinneo to act under his direction in literary matters.
Dr. Pinneo was the eldest son of the Rev. Bezaleel
Pinneo, an early graduate of Dartmouth College,
who was for more than half a century pastor of the
First Congregational Church in Milford, Conn. Dr.
Pinneo was born at Milford in February, 1804. His
mother was a woman of culture, Mary, only daughter
of the Rev. Timothy Stone of Lebanon, Conn., a
graduate of Yale College. Dr. Pinneo graduated at
Yale in the class of 1824. A severe illness in the
winter after his graduation made it necessary for him
to spend his winters in the South until his health
was sufficiently restored to enable him to pursue
the study of medicine. He taught for a time in the
Charlotte Hall Institute, Maryland, and then re-
moved to Ohio. He acted one year as professor of
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy in Marietta
College. He studied medicine in Cincinnati and re-
ceived the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the
Ohio Medical College in 1843. On June 1, 1848, he
married Jeanette Linsley, daughter of Rev. Dr. Joel
H. Linsley, at one time president of Marietta Col-
lege. Dr. Pinneo was for eighteen years a resident
in Cincinnati. In 1862 he went to Greenwich, Conn.,
where he was occupied in literary work and in the
'conduct of a boys' boarding school. In 1885, after
his wife's death, he removed to Norwalk, Conn.,
where he died August 2, 1893. Two daughters and a
son survived him.

[48]

» J}f itnro'0 Cfctoi f;

Dr. Pinnco contributed materially to the revisions
of McGuffey's Readers made in 1843 and in 1853;
but both these revisions passed through the hands
of Dr. McGuffey, then at the University of Virginia,
and were approved by him. It does not appear that
Dr. Pinneo exercised any personal authority over
the readers. He was employed, for moderate
amounts, to prepare revisions which were satisfac-
tory to both publisher and author. In the revision
of 1843, his work was confined to the Third and
Fourth readers. The First and Second readers were
remade by Daniel G. Mason, then a teacher in the
schools of Cincinnati. In the revision of 1853 the
entire series passed through Dr. Pinneo's hands.
He probably corrected the proof sheets. Dr. Pin-
neo's latest work on the McGuffey Readers was
done in 1856.

After leaving Cincinnati, Dr. Pinneo prepared, and
Mr. Smith published, a series of grammars — the
Analytical, issued in 1850, and the Primary, in 1854.
He was also the author of a High School Reader
and of Hemans's Young Ladies' Readers. These
books had for some years a considerable sale.

As early as 1853 Mr. Obed J. Wilson was in the
office of Mr. Smith as an employee. Mr. Wilson
was born in Bingham, Maine, in 1826, and earned
his first money as an axman in the pine forests
which were in that day near his native town. He
obtained, in the common schools, sufficient educa-
tion to become a teacher and he never ceased to

[49]

be a student, thus acquiring a broad acquaintance
with English literature. He taught in the schools of
Cincinnati when he first went West. There his
abilities soon attracted the attention of Mr. Smith,
who employed him. For some years he traveled as
an agent, chiefly in Indiana and Wisconsin, intro-
ducing the books of the Eclectic Series. He grad-
ually became Mr. Smith's trusted assistant, particu-
larly in the direction of the work of agents and in
the selection of new books, and their adaptation to
the demands of the field. He married Miss Amanda
Landrum, who was also a skilled teacher in the
Cincinnati schools. Mrs. Wilson was responsible
for a revision of the McGuffey First Reader made in
1863. She also at that time corrected the plates of
the higher numbers of the series. For many years
thereafter Mr. Wilson was the chief authority for
Mr. Smith and his successors in literary matters,
and few men excelled him in breadth of reading and
in discriminating taste.

Mr. Wilson lives in his home near Cincinnati which
is filled with the choice books which he has read
and studied so faithfully, and he still has the com-
panionship of the wife who has been his constant
helpmate for more than half a century.

Mr. Winthrop B. Smith was the sole proprietor
of the McGuffey Readers and his other publications
from 1841 until about 1852. He then admitted as
partners, Edward Sargent and Daniel Bartow Sar-

[50]

I~,t0trrn

gent, his wife's brothers, and the firm name became
W. B. Smith & Co.

While books could be manufactured in the West
even in the early years cheaper than they could be
delivered in the West from the better organized
establishments in the older cities of the East, it
was not possible to deliver books in New York from
Cincinnati so cheaply as the books could be made in
the East. The cost of transportation constituted a
very considerable element in the price of school-
books. Mr. Smith therefore made an arrangement
with Clark, Austin & Smith, of New York, to be-
come the Eastern publishers of the McGuffey Read-
ers and other books, and a duplicate set of plates
was sent to New York. From these plates, editions
of the readers were manufactured, largely at Clare-
mont. N. H., bearing on the title page the imprint
of Clark, Austin & Smith, New York.

The Smith of this firm was Cornelius Smith, a
brother of Winthrop B. Smith. Cornelius Smith
withdrew from this firm before 1861. In that year
the war broke out, and this New York firm, which
as booksellers and stationers had a large trade in
the South, lost not only their custom in that section,
but were unable to collect large amounts due them
for goods. Clark, Austin, Maynard & Co. failed and
Mr. W. B. Smith bought, in 1862, all their assets
for the sum of $6,000. placed Mr. W. B. Thalheimer
in charge of the business and resumed control of
the duplicate plates of the McGuffey Readers.

[51]

H cto JFirtu

From the location of Cincinnati on the Ohio river,
then affording the cheapest means of distributing
goods to all parts of the South, Mr. Smith had ob-
tained, before 1860, a very considerable part of the
schoolbook trade in the Southern states of the Mis-
sissippi Valley. The opening of the Civil War swept
this trade away and left on the books of the firm
in Cincinnati many accounts not then collectible.
The continuance of the war and the constant fluctu-
ations in the price of materials, due to the use of
paper money, joined to advancing age and ill health,
all combined to lead Mr. Smith to withdraw from
business.

A new firm, Sargent, Wilson & Hinkle, was or-
ganized April 20, 1863, with Edward Sargent,, ^b^d
J. Wilson and Anthony H. Hinkle as general part-
ners, and with W. B. Smith and D. B. Sargent as
special partners.

These active partners had long been in this busi-
ness, Mr. Sargent as a partner and bookkeeper, Mr.
Wilson as literary editor of skill and judgment and
also a forceful manager of agents, Mr. Hinkle as a
thoroughly skilled binder and manufacturer.

Winthrop B. Smith and D. B. Sargent remained
as special partners, furnishing capital but taking no
part in the direction of the business.

The Confederate States, at the opening o.' the
War, had iwthin their limits no publisher of school-
books which had extensive sales. Nearly all of the
schoolbooks used in the South were printed in the

[52]

North. But there were printing offices and bind-
eries in the South. The children continued to go
to school, and the demand for achoolbooks soon be-
came urgent. To meet this demand, a few new
schoolbooks were made and copyrighted under the
laws of the Confederacy; but others were reprints
of Northern books such as were in general use. The
Methodist Book Concern of Nashville, Tenn., re-
printed the McGuffey Readers and supplied the re-
gion south and west of Nashville until the Federal
line swept past that city. This action on the part of
the Methodist Book Concern had the effect of pre-
serving the market for these readers, so that as soon
as any part of the South was strongly occupied by
the Federal forces, orders came to the Cincinnati
publishers for fresh supplies of the McGuffey Read-
ers. This unexpected preservation of trade was of
great benefit to the firm of Sargent, Wilson & Hin-
kle.

In 1866 the special interests were closed out. and
Mr. Lewis Van Antwerp was admitted as a partner.
On April 20, 1863, the firm of Sargent, Wilson &
Hinkle was dissolved. Mr. Sargent retired and the
new firm, Wilson, Hinkle & Co., bought all the assets.
At this date Mr. Robert Quincy Beer became a
partner. Mr. Beer had long been a trusted and suc-
cessful agent and he was put in charge of the agency
department. Under this partnership the business
gradually became systematized in departments. One
partner had in charge the reading of manuscripts

[53]

, 7iiinl;It V Co.

and the placing of accepted works in book form,
one had charge of the manufacture of books from
plates provided by the first, and one of finding a
market for the books. At the first organization of
the firm of Wilson, Hinkle & Co., Mr. Wilson was
the literary manager as well as the director of agency
work. Mr. Hinkle was the manufacturer, having
control of the printing and binding, and Mr. Van
Antwerp had charge of the accounts. Mr. Beer was
brought in to relieve Mr. Wilson in the direction of
agents. But Mr. Beer died suddenly, January 3,
1870, and the surviving partners soon sought for
another competent and experienced man to take his
place.

Mr. Caleb S. Bragg had for years acted as the
agent for a list of books selected by him from the
publications of two or three publishers and was a
partner in the firm of Ingham & Bragg, booksellers
of Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Bragg sold his interest in
the business in Cleveland and became a partner in
Wilson, Hinkle & Co., on April 20, 1871; and at the
same time Henry H. Vail and Robert F. Leaman,
who had for some years been employees, were each
given an interest in the profits although not admitted
as full partners until three years later. Mr. Hinkle's
eldest son, A. Howard Hinkle, was brought up in
the business, and the contract for 1874 provided that
he should be admitted as a partner, with his father's
interest and in his place, when that contract expired
in 1877. The contract of 1874 was preparatory to the

[54]

U,tu frnttorri), jjr.tftfl .V Co*

voluntary retirement of both Mr. Wilson and Mr.
Hinkle. Consequently, on April 20, 1877, the firm
of Wilson, Hinkle & Co. was dissolved and the busi-
ness was purchased by the new firm. Van Antwerp,
Bragg & Co., of which Lewis Van Antwerp, Caleb
S. Bragg, Henry H. Vail, Robert F. Leaman, A.
Howard Hinkle, and Harry T. Ambrose were the
partners. This firm continued unchanged until Jan-
uary 1, 1892, except for the untimely death of Mr.
Leaman on December 12. 1887, and the retirement
of Mr. Van Antwerp, January 2, 1890, just previous
to the sale of the copyrights and plates owned by the
firm to the American Book Company.

This sale, completed May 15, 1890, did not then
include the printing office and bindery belonging to
the firm. These were used by the firm of Van Ant-
werp, Bragg & Co. until January 1, 1892, in manu-
facturing books ordered by the American Book Com-
pany. The American Book Company became, on
May 15, 1890, the owners, by purchase, of all the
copyrights and plates formerly owned by Van Ant-
werp, Bragg & Co. The four active partners in that
firm, each of whom had then been in the schoolbook
business some twenty-five or thirty years, entered
the employ of the American Book Company.
Mr. Bragg and Mr. Hinkle remained in charge of
the Cincinnati business, Mr. Vail and Mr. Ambrose
went to New York; the former as editor in chief, the
latter was at first treasurer, but later became the
president.

[55]

Ufjjot one

Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. issued many new and
successful books and remade many, including the
McGuffey Readers and Speller, Ray's Arithmetics
and Harvey's Grammars. Most of these met with
acceptance and this was so full and universal through-
out the central West as to give opportunity to the
competing agents of other houses to honor Van
Antwerp, Bragg & Co. with such titles as "Octopus"
and "Monopoly," names that were used before
"Trusts" were invented. They also called the firm
in chosen companies, "Van Anteup, Grabb & Co."
These were mere playful or humorous titles in rec-
ognition of the fact that this firm had, by its industry,
skill and energy, captured a larger share of the pat-
ronage of the people than was agreeable to its con-
petitors, and they, in despair of success by fair
means, resorted to the old-fashioned method of calling
their antagonist bad names. The best books, if pressed
vigorously and intelligently, were sure to win in the
end, and the people who used the books cared little
what name appeared at the foot of the title-page.

In all important book contests the firm that holds
possession of the field is much in the situation of
the tallest man in a Kilkenny Fair. His head sticks
up above the crowd and therefore gets the most
knocks.

The latest revision of the McGuffey Readers, five
books, was prepared and published by the American
Book Company in 1901, under the same general di-
rection as the revision of 1878; but the actual work

[56]

,tuir f~

was done by Dr. James Baldwin who was the
author of the Harper Readers and of Baldwin's
Readers. Even in this latest edition there are in
the higher books many selections that appeared in
the earliest. Care was taken to maintain the high
moral tone that so clearly marked Dr. McGuffey's
work and to bring in from later literature some val-
uable new material to displace that which had proved
less interesting and less instructive. These books
acquired at once a large sale, and the sales of the
previous editions are still remunerative.

Of the men connected with these successive owners
of these copyrights it seems proper to name those
who directed the revisions which took place. It is
evident that none were undertaken without long and
anxious discussions as to the need of revision and of
its nature. In such decisions all partners would take
part; but finally the actual direction must come into
the hands of some one partner whose experience
and qualification best fitted him for literary work.

As has been seen, Mr. Winthrop B. Smith was for
a few years, while the business was still in its infancy,
the sole owner and the manager of every part of
his business. Mr. Pinneo contributed aid from 1843
to 1856; but even before his work was finished Mr.
O. J. Wilson's skill became recognized and his mind
was dominant in literary matters so long as he re-
mained a partner — until 1877. But in the meantime
he had carefully trained a successor in the editorial
work, and from 1877 until 1907 the responsibility fell
upon him. [57]

The story of the revisions of 1843 and 1853 has
been told. The books were apparently in satisfac-
tory use in a large part of the West; but about 1874
the firm thought it wise to exploit a new series.
At its request Mr. Thomas W. Harvey prepared a
series consisting of five books. This series was
published in 1875; but the experience of a few years
with the Harvey Readers showed that the people
still preferred the McGuffey Readers and after long
discussion and hesitation it was agreed that these
should again be revised. This determination was
hastened by the publication of the Appleton Readers
in 1877, and by the incoming of a number of skilled
agents pushing these books in the field that had for
many years been held so strongly for the McGuffey
Readers as to baffle the best endeavors of two or
three Eastern publishers who had tested the market.

The Appleton Readers were prepared by Mr. An-
drew J. Rickoff, then superintendent of the Cleve-
land schools; Mr. William T. Harris, then superin-
tendent of the St. Louis schools, and Professor Mark
Bailey of Yale College. They were largely aided in
the lower readers by Mrs. Rickoff. These books,
with this array of scholarly and well-known authors,
illustrated with carefully prepared engravings, well
printed and well bound, became at once formidable
competitors for patronage and went into use in many
places where the McGuffey Readers had served at
least two generations of pupils. The Harvey Read-
ers stood no chance in this competition.

[58]

lUVitoton of IS7S

On April 9, 1878, the firm of Van Antwerp, Bragg
& Co. determined upon making a new series of read-
ers bearing the well-recognized title of McGuffey*s
Eclectic Readers and distinguished as a "Revised
Edition." Some details of the plan as presented by
the partner having literary matters in charge were
agreed to. The method of teaching in the first read-
er was to be adjusted to a phonic-word method,
and the gradation was to be improved. The se-
lections of the older books were to be retained ex-
cept where they could be improved.

In accordance with this resolution the editor in-
vited four persons to aid, during the summer, in
this work. These were Thomas W. Harvey of
Painesville, Ohio; Robert W. Stevenson, of Colum-
bus; Edwin C. Hewett, of Bloomington, 111.; and
Miss Amanda Funnelle, of Terre Haute, Indiana.
Each was a teacher of wide experience.

To these assistants assembled in Cincinnati the
plan of revision was fully explained and the work
was alloted. Miss Funnelle and Mr. Stevenson took
charge of the first three readers, Mr. Harvey and
Dr. Hewett of the three higher books. All were
perfectly familiar with the old books and in a few
days substantial agreement was reached as to the
changes needed. By two months of constant and in-
telligent labor the manuscripts assumed approximate
form. The opening of the schools called the assist-
ants back to their homes and the editor of the firm
shaped the manuscripts for the text and procured

[59]

for a

the necessary illustrations. These were made, re-
gardless of cost, by the best artists and engravers
to be found in the country. When the plates were
finished, the publishers printed several hundred
copies of each of the three smaller books and dis-
tributed them as proofs to selected teachers in many
states, asking them for criticisms and suggestions.
The answers made were of great value. The First
Reader was entirely re-written by the editor and the
plates of other readers were made more perfect. In
this revision the three lower books were almost en-
tirely new. The Fourth was largely new matter,
while in the Fifth and Sixth such matter as could
not be improved from the entire field of literature,
was retained. The Fifth and Sixth readers furnished
brief biographies of each author and contained notes
explanatory of the text. These were new features
and they proved valuable at that date.

As soon as these books were completed, large
editions were printed and they were most vigorously
exploited not only to take the place of the older
edition of McGuffey Readers, but to supplant the
newly introduced Appleton Readers.

This book-fight was a long and bitter one. Every
device known to the agency managers of the houses
engaged was employed. Even exchanges of books
became common. It was war; and like every war
was carried on for victory and not for profit. It is
perhaps fortunate that such contests cannot in the
nature of things last long. In the long run business

[60]

must show a profit or fail. Contrary to popular
opinion, a book war is not profitable in itself; but it
is a form of competition that has existed for fully a
century. It presents no novelties even now.

The two chief combatants at length withdrew with
one accord. Neither firm could claim entire victory;
but the McGuffey readers came through with much
the larger sales and these increased for years. By
this contest the firm of Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co.
won a reputation as fighters that protected them in
after years from ill-considered attacks by its com-
petitors.

The revised edition of the McGuffey Readers,
having no author's name on the title page, designed
and compiled under the direction of the publishers,
but retaining the moral excellences and literary
qualities that had been affixed to the series from
its origin, attained the largest sales that have as yet
been accorded by the public to a single series of
books. Of the Sixth Reader, which must have the
least sale, over a million copies have been dis-
tributed, as shown by the edition number. Of the
First Reader more than eight million copies have
been used.

At no time in the history of these readers have
they been without formidable competition- Pickett's
Readers were published in Cincinnati as early as
1832. Albert Pickett was at one time president of
the College of Teachers and his books were pub-
lished by John W. Pickett, who was probably his

[61]

brother. Later some additional books were prepared
by John W. Pickett, M. D., LL. D., and published by
U. P. James in 1841, and by J. Earnst in 1845. These
readers were vigorously pushed into the market for
several years, but in the end were unsuccessful.

The Goodrich Readers published by Morton &
Griswold in Louisville, Ky., were perhaps the most
constant competitors with the McGuffey Readers in
the early years throughout the states of the Missis-
sippi Valley. These were prepared by S. G. Good-
rich, the author of the then popular "Peter Parley
Tales." The readers were originally published in
Boston and some copies bear the imprint of Otis,
Broaders & Co. They were first copyrighted in
1839 and were frequently revised. They finally be-
came the property of the Louisville publisher. Mr.
Smith and Mr. Morton kept up a most vigorous
schoolbook war, especially in Ohio, Indiana and
Kentucky in the years from 1845 to 1860. Cobb's
Readers, copyrighted in 1845, were published for some
time in Cincinnati by B. Davenport. These were
once widely introduced but soon went out of use.

It was very much the custom in those early dayi,
before the railroads made transportation quick and
cheap for Eastern publishers to furnish a set of
plates to some enterprising bookseller in the West
or to print an edition for him with his imprint.

Ebenezer Porter's Rhetorical Reader copyrighted
in 1835 was sold largely in the western market by
William H. Moore, of Cincinnati, and in 1848 the

[62]

Tiuimovoti.o

books bore his imprint. Thus there was ample
competition for the market even at this early date.
The Pickett Readers, Cobb Readers, Goodrich Read-
ers, and even the excellent Rhetorical Reader of
Ebenezer Porter were all swept out of the schools
by the superior qualities of the McGuffey Readers
and the persistent energies of their publishers.

In these books the publishers found space for a
little advertising of their wares. In Pickett's Read-
ers there is printed conspicuously at the top of a
page a warm commendation of Pickett's Readers,
written in 1835 by William H. McGuffey, Professor
at Miami University, in which he "considers them
superior to any other works I have seen." That
was before he made his own readers. Mr. Smith
responded by publishing a strong commendation of
one of his books signed by Mr. Albert Pickett. Life
is seldom devoid of the lesser amenities.

The Willson Readers, published by the Harper
Brothers, were vigorously pushed into the schools
of Ohio and Indiana about 1867. The first supply
was usually sold to the school authorities by agents
who operated on the commission plan. Thus the
agents had an interest in the introduction sales, but
cared nothing about the continuance of sales in after
years. Booksellers, meanwhile, kept the McGuffey
Readers in stock, and whenever new readers were
desired these were easily obtained. In a few years
the Willson Readers were out of the schools. Of
course, there was no lack of traveling agents and

[63]

£ti* tiring

of circulars which freely criticised these Willson
Readers, which were constructed to teach not only
reading but science. After a short time the children
wearied of reading about bugs and beetles they had
never seen and gladly welcomed the books that had
a single aim.

In the eyes of a publisher a good schoolbook is one
that can be readily introduced and one that will stay
when it is put in use. The officials who adopt a
schoolbook are not the users of the book. They are
adults long past the school age. Cases have been
known when in important adoptions the majority of
the adopting board had not seen the inside of a
school room for twenty-five years. Of course such
men are far behind the schools. They are governed
by their own past experience. When the teachers
are allowed to have a voice in the way of advice,
the real needs of the pupils obtain more considera-
tion. But the final real judge of the merits of a
schoolbook is the boy or girl who uses it. If the
book is truly pedagogical, adjusted in every part to
the average mental development of the child, it be-
comes a valuable tool in the school room. If on the
other hand it is a mere collection of novelties such
as catch the eye of inexpert judges and impress
merely the imagination, the books may be intro-
duced; but they won't stay.

The McGuffey Readers had staying qualities.
Teachers often became so familiar with their con-
tents that they needed no book in their hands to

[64]

CfjU*

correct the work, but to each child the contents of
the book were new and fresh. It is the fashion of
the present day to exalt the new at the expense of
the old. But the child of today is very much such
as Socrates and Plato studied in Greece. The de-
velopment of the human mind may be more gen-
erally understood than it was then; but it may be
doubted whether the mass of teachers are today wiser
in the results of child-study than were the philoso-
phers of ancient days. Child nature remains the
same. At a given stage in his upward progress, he
is interested in much the same things. He is led to
think for himself in much the same way, and the
whole end and aim of education is to lead toward
self activity. The readers that deal simply with
facts — information readers — may lodge in the minds
of children some scraps of encyclopedic information
which may in future life become useful. But the
readers that rouse the moral sentiments, that touch
the imagination, that elevate and establish character
by selections chosen from the wisest writers in Eng-
lish in all the centuries that have passed since our
language assumed a comparatively fixed literary
form, have a much more valuable function to per-
form. Character is more valuable than knowledge
and a taste for pure and ennobling literature is a
safeguard for the young that cannot be safely ig-
nored.

The success of the McGuffey Readers was due
primarily to their adaptation to the general demand

[65]

of the schools and secondarily to the energy and
skill of their publishers.

The books in their first form were strongly relig-
ious in their teaching without being denominational.
If a selection taught a moral lesson this was stated
in formal words at the close. The pill was not
sugared. Thus at the close of a lesson narrating the
results of disobedience, the three little girls assem-
bled and "they were talking how happy it made them
to keep the Fifth Commandment." There was in the
books much direct teaching of moral principles,
with "thou shalt" and "thou shalt not." In the later
revisions this gradually disappeared. The moral
teaching was less direct but more effective. The
pupil was left to make his own deduction and the
formal "haec fabula docet" was omitted. The au-
thor and the publishers were fully justified in their
firm belief that the American people are a moral
people and that they have a strong desire that their
children be taught to become brave, patriotic, hon-
est, self-reliant, temperate, and virtuous citizens.

In some of these books the retail price is printed.
In 1844 the retail price of the First Reader was
twelve and a half cents. It contained 108 pages. In
the same year, the Second Reader of 216 pages was
priced at 25 cents. The Fourth Reader cost 75 cents,
and contained 336 pages.

These prices were in a market when the day's
wage of a laboring man was only fifty cents. Rela-

[66]

lively to the cost of other articles, schoolbooks were
not nearly so cheap as they are now.

When Truman & Smith began publishing, the
copyright law required the deposit of titles and
copies of the several books in the office of the Clerk
of the District Court. At first such deposits were
made in Columbus, Ohio, but later in Cincinnati.
When Congress organized the Copyright Bureau in
Washington, the several clerks were required to
send to the Library of Congress all the sample
copies deposited; but these had been carelessly kept
and many were lost. A duplicate set was for years
required to be sent to the Smithsonian Institution
in Washington. These were also passed into the
custody of the Librarian of Congress; but this col-
lection had been carelessly preserved and the files
of the McGuffey Readers at Washington are now
quite defective for the earliest issues. The Library
seems to have no copy of any number of the first
edition except possibly the Second and Fourth. The
copy of the Second was deposited December 12,
1836. The Fourth bears date of July, 1837. All the
other early copies found in that library are of later
dates and are "Revised and Improved."

It may be well to indicate in a general way the
progress that has been made in illustrating school-
books. The first editions of the McGuffey Readers
as issued in 1836 and 1837 did not contain a single
original engraving. All seem to have been copied
from English books. The nice little boys wear
[67]

round-about jackets with wide, white ruffled collars
at the neck. The proper little girls have scoop bon-
nets and conspicuous pantalets. Most of the men
wear knee breeches. The houses shown have the
thatched roofs of English cottages. In one picture
a boy has a regular cricket bat. Other schoolbooks
of that date show similar appropriations of English
engravings; but even at that time there were a few
wood engravers in America. When the second gen-
eral revision was made in 1843 some original illus-
trations appeared and in the edition of 1853 notice
was given on the title page that the engravings were
copyright property that must not be used by others.

As pictures are closely studied by children, some
of the users of these early books may reme jei
the cut showing vividly the dangers of "whale catch-
ing." Two boats are thrown high in the air by one
sweep of the animal's tail and one seaman is shown
head downward still in the boat. Another repre-
sented Jonah being cast overboard from the ship to-
ward the whale below whose mouth is manifestly
large enough to accommodate Jonah.

But the engravings in this edition of 1853 had no
considerable artistic quality and they were very
coarsely engraved. In 1863 came the first employ-
ment of a genuine artist in wood engraving. This
was Mr. E. J. Whitney who had made a reputation
by work done for New York publishers. His en-
gravings were to take the place of some then in the
books and their sizes were precisely determined. The

[68]

JJvocroaca

drawings were most carefully made by Mr. Herrick
with pencil on the whitened boxwood blocks, and
sent to the publisher for' examination. These, when
approved, were returned to the engraver who fol-
lowed precisely the lines of the drawing. When the
engraving was finished, a carefully rubbed proof on
India paper was sent to the publisher. If this was
satisfactory, the block was delivered and from it an
electrotype was made for printing. The block itself
was preserved as an original. Mr. Whitney's work
was thoroughly good. He was a wood engraver of
the old school.

When the revision of 1878 was decided on, the pub-
lishers of the McGuffey Readers realized that much
improvement must be made in the illustrations. About
this time the magazines were placing great stress
upon pictorial work and a new school of engravers
came into existence. The wood engravers had al-
ready departed from the painful reproduction of each
line of a pencil drawing and had become skilled in
representing tints of light and shade if placed on
the whitened block with a brush. This gave greater
freedom of interpretation to the engraver. The next
step was to have the drawing made large and re-
produced on the block by photography. By this
method most of the engravings were made for the
edition of 1878. Care was taken to employ artists
of reputation and the engravings were usually signed
by the artist and by the engraver.

Before the last edition came out in 1901, photo-en-

[69]

Hatr v fcttbcntf one

graving had nearly supplanted wood engraving. By
this process the artist's drawing with the brush is
reproduced in fine tints which, when well engraved
and carefully printed, produce effective results. Pen
and ink drawings are also reproduced in exact fac-
simile. By this process the hand work of the en-
graver is nearly eliminated. The blocks are some-
times retouched to produce effects not attained by
the process work. The skill of the artist in making
the drawing thus becomes all important.

The introduction of color work in the schoolbooks
intended for young children resulted from the in-
vention of the three-color plates. From nature, or
from a colored painting, three photographs are taken
— one excluding all but the yellow rays of light, one
for the red rays, and one for the blue. From these
photographs three tint blocks are made which to the
eye in many cases look exactly alike. From one of
these an impression is made with yellow ink, exact-
ly over this the red plate prints with red ink and
this is followed by an impression from the blue
plate. If the effects of the color screens of the
camera are exactly reproduced by the printer's inks
and with exactly the right amount of ink, the re-
sult is wonderfully satisfactory.

What are the qualities in these McGuffey Eclectic
Readers that won for them through three-quarters
of a century such wide and constant use?

The best answer to this question may be drawn
from the many newspaper articles which appeared in

[70]

Western and Southern papers after the death of one
of the authors. There is general recognition on the
part of the writers of these articles that while the
books served well their purpose of teaching the art
of reading, their greatest value consisted in the
choice of masterpieces in literature which by their
contents taught morality, and patriotism and by their
beauty served as a gateway to pure literature. One
editor, who used these books in his school career,
said, "Thousands of men and women owe their
wholesome views of life, as well as whatever success
they may have attained, to the wholesome maxims
and precepts found on every page of these valuable
books. The seed they scattered has yielded a mil-
ilon-fold. All honor to the name and memory of
this excellent and useful man."

One of the wise men of the olden time cared not
who wrote the laws if he might write their songs.
Among a people devoid of books the folk-songs are
early lodged firmly in the mind of every child. They
influence his whole life. The modern schoolbooks —
particularly the readers — furnish the basis of the
moral and intellectual training of the youth in every
community. The McGuffey Readers, from their own
peculiar inherent qualities, retained their hold upon
the schools until in some states laws were passed
which in their operation caused schoolbooks to be
regarded as commodities estimated almost solely up-
on the cost of paper, printing and binding. The
value of these material things can easily be ascer-
[71]

tained and compared; but unless the print carries the
lessons that help to form a life the paper is wasted
and the pupil's most valuable time is misspent. The
teaching power of a schoolbook cannot be weighed
in the grocer's scales nor measured with a pint cup.
In the field open to free and constant competition,
the books best suited to the wants of each community
will in the end succeed. It was under such condi-
tions that the McGuffey Readers won and held their
place in the schools.

[72]

vail, i iry nooaru

A history of the McGuff
readers New ed.

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY